Saturday, 14 January 2017

Passengers
on a bus crossing the Westminster Bridge in London on Monday. A 24-hour
strike on the Underground forced commuters onto crammed buses, while
thousands of others walked for hours to get to and from work.: photo by Toby Melville/Reuters, 9 January 2017

Passengers
on a bus crossing the Westminster Bridge in London on Monday. A 24-hour
strike on the Underground forced commuters onto crammed buses, while
thousands of others walked for hours to get to and from work.: photo by Toby Melville/Reuters, 9 January 2017

Jorge Luis Borges:Ragnarök

In our dreams (writes Coleridge) images represent the sensations we
think they cause; we do not feel horror because we are threatened by a
sphinx; we dream a sphinx in order to explain the horror we feel. If
this is so, how could a mere chronicle of its
forms transmit the stupor, the exaltation, the alarm, the menace and
the jubilance which made up the fabric of that dream that night? I shall
attempt such a chronicle, however; perhaps the fact that the dream was
composed of one single scene may remove or mitigate this essential
difficulty.The place was the School of Philosophy and Letters; the time, toward
sundown. Everything (as usually happens in dreams) was somehow
different; a slight magnification altered things. We were electing
officials: I was talking with Pedro Henríquez Ureña, who in the world of
waking reality died many years ago. Suddenly we were stunned by the
clamor of a demonstration or disturbance. Human and animal cries came
from the Bajo. A voice shouted “Here they come!” and then “The Gods! The
Gods!” Four or five individuals emerged from the mob and occupied the
platform of the main lecture hall. We all applauded, tearfully; these
were the Gods returning from a centuries-long exile. Made larger by the
platform, their heads thrown back and their chests thrust forward, they
arrogantly received our homage. One held a branch which no doubt
conformed to the simple botany of dreams; another, in a broad gesture,
extended his hand which was a claw; one of the faces of Janus looked
with distrust at the curved beak of Thoth. Perhaps aroused by our
applause, one of them -- I know longer know which -- erupted in a
victorious clatter, unbelievably harsh, with something of a gargle and
of a whistle. From that moment, things changed.It all began with the suspicion (perhaps exaggerated) that the Gods
did not know how to talk. Centuries of fell and fugitive life had
atrophied the human element in them; the moon of Islam and the cross of
Rome had been implacable with these outlaws. Very low foreheads, yellow
teeth, stringy mulatto or Chinese mustaches and thick bestial lips
showed the degeneracy of the Olympian lineage. Their clothing
corresponded not to a decorous poverty but rather to the sinister luxury
of the gambling houses and brothels of the Bajo. A carnation bled
crimson on a lapel and the bulge of a knife was outlined beneath a
close-fitting jacket. Suddenly we sensed that they were playing their
last card, that they were cunning, ignorant and cruel like old beasts of
prey and that, if we let ourselves be overcome by fear or pity, they
would finally destroy us.We took out our heavy revolvers (all of a sudden there were revolvers in the dream) and joyfully killed the Gods

JorgeLuis Borges (1899-1986):Ragnarök, from El hacedor, 1960; English version by J.E.I.

A man walks along a snow covered A93 which is currently closed to vehicles in Spital of Glenshee, United Kingdom: photo by Jeff J Mitchell, 13 January 2017

A man walks along a snow covered A93 which is currently closed to vehicles in Spital of Glenshee, United Kingdom: photo by Jeff J Mitchell, 13 January 2017

Waves crash into the sea wall at Seaham Harbour as Scotland and the
North of England were covered in a blanket of snow while the east coast
was braced for a storm surge at Friday lunchtime: photo by Owen
Humphreys/PA Wire, 13 January 2017

Waves crash into the sea wall at Seaham Harbour as Scotland and the
North of England were covered in a blanket of snow while the east coast
was braced for a storm surge at Friday lunchtime: photo by Owen
Humphreys/PA Wire, 13 January 2017

UK - Waves smash into the barrier along the promenade at high tide at Walton-on-the-Naze. By @lealolivas #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

A
portable toilet in floodwaters at a vineyard in Forestville, Calif., on
Wednesday. Rain and snow have pounded the region, bringing much needed
water to a drought-stricken state.: photo by Justin Sullivan, 11 January 2017

A
portable toilet in floodwaters at a vineyard in Forestville, Calif., on
Wednesday. Rain and snow have pounded the region, bringing much needed
water to a drought-stricken state.: photo by Justin Sullivan, 11 January 2017

Clark Coolidge: What About It?

In the dream she asked me if I could

take her to Socket and that's where

it gets complicated because I knew

she meant Woonsocket and I also knew

she meant an actual socket

I knew how to get to

Clark Coolidge: What About It? from Life Forms Here, 2017

Macedonia - A flock of birds rest of the frozen surface of the Dojran Lake on January 11. Photo @RAtanasovski: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 13 January 2017

INDIA
- A Kashmiri muslim mother and son sit inside a mud house on the
outskirts of Srinagar following a snowfall. By @TauseefMUSTAFA #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

A worker handles an inflatable chicken, bearing a likeness to U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump and produced ahead of the Lunar New Year of
the Rooster, at a factory in Jiaxing, China: photo by Qilai Shen/Bloomberg, 13 January 2017

A worker handles an inflatable chicken, bearing a likeness to U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump and produced ahead of the Lunar New Year of
the Rooster, at a factory in Jiaxing, China: photo by Qilai Shen/Bloomberg, 13 January 2017

President-elect
Donald J. Trump points at a reporter at a news conference held in the
Etiquette Room at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Wednesday: photo by Damon Winter/The New York Times, 11 January 2017

President-elect Donald J. Trump points at a reporter at a news
conference held in the Etiquette Room at Trump Tower in Manhattan on
Wednesday: photo by Damon Winter/The New York Times, 11 January 2017

Rex
W. Tillerson, the nominee for secretary of state, arriving by shuttle
launch from an Arctic oil drilling platform for his confirmation hearing
on Wednesday: photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times, 11 January 2017

Rex W. Tillerson, the nominee for secretary of state, arriving by
shuttle launch from an Arctic oil drilling platform for his confirmation
hearing on Wednesday: photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times, 11 January 2017

GABON - View of an off-shore oil rig, off the coast of Port-Gentil at sunrise. By @JustinTallis #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

Steve King@SteveKingIAExcellent Trump appointment for Secretary of Homeland Security, General John Kelly and I discuss border security with my wall model on table.

Reading The Pictures Retweeted Steve King

Reading The Pictures added,Taking barbs to the next level. Visual aid of the day. (via @digby56) #immigration

image via Reading The Pictures @ReadingThePix, 13 January 2017

President
Hassan Rouhani, left, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran on Tuesday
touched the coffin of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former
president who helped found the Islamic republic. Mr. Rafsanjani died on
Sunday at the age of 82: photo by Reuters, 10 January 2017

President
Hassan Rouhani, left, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran on Tuesday
touched the coffin of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former
president who helped found the Islamic republic. Mr. Rafsanjani died on
Sunday at the age of 82: photo by Reuters, 10 January 2017

A member of the Iraqi special forces shouts during a battle on Sunday against Islamic State militants in a neighborhood of Mosul: photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse, 8 January 2017

A member of the Iraqi special forces shouts during a battle on Sunday against Islamic State militants in a neighborhood of Mosul: photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse, 8 January 2017

IRAQ - An Iraqi member of Rapid Response Division stands in a street in Mosul's al-Sahiroun neighbourhood during #MosulOffensive. By @dilkoff: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

IRAQ - An Iraqi T-72 tank heads to the frontline near the Fourth Bridge over Tigris River connecting eastern and western Mosul. By @dilkoff: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 10 January 2017

IRAQ - An Iraqi army soldier smokes a cigarette as he monitors IS group positions in Mosul's al-Sahiroun neighbourhood.By @dilkoff: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

Iraq - A picture taken through the bullet-riddled windshield shows members of the Rapid Response Division resting in Mosul. Photo @dilkoff: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 13 January 2017

Iraqi federal police officers demonstrate their skills at a Police Day event in Baghdad on Saturday: photo by Karim Kadim/Associated Press, 7 January 2017

Iraqi federal police officers demonstrate their skills at a Police Day event in Baghdad on Saturday: photo by Karim Kadim/Associated Press, 7 January 2017

Bangladeshi Muslim devotees offer prayers on the first day of the
three day Islamic congregation in Tongi, north of Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by AP, 13 January 2017

Bangladeshi Muslim devotees offer prayers on the first day of the
three day Islamic congregation in Tongi, north of Dhaka, Bangladesh: photo by AP, 13 January 2017

Catholics pulling the carriage of the Black Nazarene, a statue of Jesus Christ, in Manila on Monday: photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters, 9 January 2017

Catholics pulling the carriage of the Black Nazarene, a statue of Jesus Christ, in Manila on Monday: photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters, 9 January 2017

A
Careto de Lazarim at a winter masquerade gathering in Salsas, Portugal,
on Saturday. The traditional gathering signifies the renewal of
fertility and life, and an end of winter.: photo by Daniel Ochoa De Olza/Associated Press, 7 January 2017

A
Careto de Lazarim at a winter masquerade gathering in Salsas, Portugal,
on Saturday. The traditional gathering signifies the renewal of
fertility and life, and an end of winter.: photo by Daniel Ochoa De Olza/Associated Press, 7 January 2017

MACEDONIA - The Vevcani Carnival marks the beginning of the New Year according to the Julian calendar. By @RAtanasovski #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

WEST
BANK - Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces following a
demonstration in the village of Kfar Qaddum. By Jaafar Ashtiyeh #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

WEST
BANK - Palestinianprotestors during clashes clash with Israeli security forces following a
demonstration in the village of Kfar Qaddum. By Jaafar Ashtiyeh #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 13 January 2017

A Majestic Leopard Accidentally Takes a Selfie in the Streets of Mumbai: Charley Locke, Wired, 17 January 2017

At precisely 3 am on January 15, 2016, a leopard snapped a selfie. The fact it did this is not unusual; wild animals take a surprising number of selfies. What’s noteworthy here is the leopard snapped its selfie in Mumbai.

The big cat was prowling Aarey Colony, a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, when it tripped Nayan Khanolkar's camera. The cat looks almost as surprised as Khanolkhar was. “When I
saw a picture of the leopard with a look of inquiry in the direction of
the camera, I realized it was special,” he says.

Khanolkar, a native of Mumbai, began photographing urban leopards after one of the big cats killed a seven-year-old in
2013. He started in Aarey Colony, which sits at the edge of Sanjay
Gandhi National Park -- which covers 40 square miles and hosts more
than 1,000 species, including leopards. It isn’t unusual for them to explore adjacent neighborhoods.

Still, the animals are sly and surreptitious, and difficult to
photograph. Khanolkar started his hunt by identifying several locations
where leopards often pass through Aarey Colony. For this photo, he set
up an infrared motion sensor in an alley, attached a Nikon D700 to a nearby
building, and positioned three strobes at various points throughout the
area. Khanolkar visited the spot every few days to check his trap.
After four months of waiting, he captured a stunning leopard creeping
through the scene.

Khanolkar hopes his photos prove leopards can live alongside humans,
even in a thriving metropolis like Mumbai. After all, the leopards were
there first.